MTV alum Ananda Lewis is setting the record straight about refusing a double mastectomy for her breast cancer, which reached Stage 4: “Today, I am fantastic!”
Source: Paul Archuleta / Getty
Concern and clapbacks flooded in about how Lewis handles her health after snippets and quotes about “keeping her tumor” recently went viral. As previously reported Lewis said she wanted to choose her own path after seeing how conventional options played out before. Lewis’ mother seemingly did everything right, from regular mammograms to the doctor-recommended treatments, but still struggled with the same illness.
Now in an interview this week with Shameika Rhymes on Soulibration for BlackDoctor.org, Lewis set the record straight about her health and healing.
The former Teen Summit host also clarified that she wasn’t against all conventional medicine. Lewis would have considered other procedures, just not a double mastectomy at that time.
“I was clear that there was a way I got here. And for me that says, ‘There’s a way out as long as I don’t damage my body to the point that it can’t function like it needs to.’ And that’s why I said, ‘No,’” she explained.
“If they had let me do a lumpectomy, I would’ve done that. They didn’t give me those options. They gave me the options that fit how they treat it. And I respect and understand it. It just wasn’t for me,” Lewis stated.
Despite The Backlash, Ananda Lewis Continues Sharing So Other Women “Learn From My Victories” And Her “Biggest Mistake”
Source: Patrick McMullan / Getty
Others are “entitled to their opinion,” but Lewis hopes they are vigilant, open-minded, and doing research about their health. The main lessons the vibrant VJ veteran wants everyone to take are prevention and early detection.
“My biggest mistake is the one I’ve shared from the beginning: not getting my mammograms,” she said, however, “I still am on the fence about mammograms.”
“I’m gonna rephrase that. My biggest mistake was not staying on top of early detection. I could have used 3D ultrasound,” or other new methods of detection.
Just like she encourages people to do their own research for their health, she urges everyone to watch the full story shared in the CNN roundtable with her friends, Stephanie Elam and Sara Sidner.
The beloved former VJ has been open about her journey since 2020. After two years of battling the illness in private, she announced the Stage 3 diagnosis on social media. Since then, the cancer continued to spread as she pursued alternatives to a double mastectomy. Lewis cares more about possibilities for others than debating about what could’ve been for herself.
“You can’t spend your time wishing you did things differently. You will never live. I’m not going to spend time regretting,” she said.
“I still feel like I did the right thing. I need women to learn from my mistakes. I need them to need them to learn from my victories,” she continued.
Last year, “things got worse” as the illness progressed, but now, she feels better with new approaches. “Today, I am fantastic. All of that led me to better solutions!” she confirmed, as she continues working for the “least harm to my body and the most good.”
See what Ananda Lewis said about whether refusing surgery “might have been a mistake” and the rest of her interview after the flip.
Ananda Lewis Discusses Her “Integrative” Approach To Cancer Treatment And Reflects On Her Choices: “I’m Living With The Consequences”
After seeing her mother go through the conventional treatments, the TV personality chose an “integrative” approach. That included doing “chemotherapy but tiny micro amounts.” Lewis also tried red light therapy, “high-dose vitamin C IVs followed by hyperbaric chambers,” and other homeopathic therapies.”
“I didn’t have surgery. I did make choices that I knew people were going to disagree with — people closest to me in my life disagreed with them when I was making them,” Lewis told Rhymes.
The 51-year-old said she’s embracing every part of her journey, including “whatever mistakes.”
“It might have been a mistake for me not to have surgery. I don’t know,” Lewis said. “I’m not going to go back, repeat that. Where I’m at now I’m fine with, and so whatever mistakes I’ve made, I’m in a great place,” she continued.
“We all got to make our own choices. I’m living with the consequences of mine.
Of course, the stakes are high for these life-or-death decisions. Lewis has made peace with all that, saying that she’s confronting the inevitable.
“All of us are dying! All the time!” she said, urging everyone to take control of healthier choices. “No one gets out of here alive.”
She also candidly confessed that alternative medicine is “ridiculously expensive.” Many of her recent struggles came from struggles to afford her treatments consistently.
“Even if you die, you can be okay because everybody’s going to confront that at some point in their lives, so this is really much more about how you want to live,” she stated.
Watch Ananda Lewis’ full interview on Soulibration below.
[embedded content]
We continue to wish Ananda Lewis the best in her health journey.